Factors influencing first sexual intercourse for South African youth

Aims: Past studies on age at first sexual intercourse among South African youth have been largely cross-sectional and lack theoretical basis. This paper investigates factors influencing first sexual intercourse among South African youth using Waves 1-3 of Cape Area Panel Study data, based on Social Cognitive Theory. Methods: This quantitative data was analysed using Stata 12, and employs descriptive statistics, correlation and Cox Proportional Hazard Regression models. Results: The results showed that age, sex, racial origin, having attained secondary or tertiary educational level, and not attending school wielded a delaying effect on the rate of transition to first sexual intercourse at the three waves. On the other hand, not being happy about life, being from single-parent or both-parents family structures exerted a positive effect on the rate of transition into first sexual intercourse in Wave 1. Low level of happiness significantly encouraged the respondents to initiate their first sexual intercourse during the second wave. At the third wave, having low educational aspiration associated significantly with higher age at first sexual intercourse in 2005. Conclusions: This study concluded that personal and socio-economic/demographic factors were mostly important as far as the timing of first sexual intercourse is concerned.